Junior's New Friend
by PinkRose0106
Summary: Bowser Jr. gets bored and decides to explore the area around Bowser Castle, meeting a young Koopa named Trooper. The two quickly becomes friends, but what chaos could come from the friendship between the two boys? (Indefinite hiatus; considered complete until further notice.)
1. The Bane of Junior's Existence: Boredom

(A/N: There'll be more references to the side games—like the Mario & Luigi ones—than the main games, but little to no reference to Mario Parties and Mario Karts and games like those. Bowser will usually be called 'Lord Bowser' because I like the way it sounds, honestly—for the same reason, Bowser Jr. will usually be referred to formally as 'Lord Junior.' Otherwise, he'll just be called 'Junior.' And since this is more or less in Bowser Jr.'s view, Bowser will be referred to as 'Dad' in normal text and such. 'Minion' will also be capitalized when referring to Bowser's minions. Prepare for minor OOCness and inconsistencies with canon, as per usual. But without further ado, here's the story!)

Bored. Bored. Booooooooooooored. That's the only thing Bowser Jr. felt as he sat down near Dad's throne.

Dad was doing whatever he did before a kidnapping mission. Kamek was helping Dad do whatever he did before a kidnapping mission. The Koopalings were too busy doing whatever they did on a daily basis to pay attention to Junior.

Why did all of his playmates leave so quickly? Captain Goomba hadn't been his fighting buddy for long; when Junior promoted the Elite Trio to his fighting buddies, they lasted until Dad gave them back their 'elite' status, but after they lost to Mario (twice in the same trip, from what Junior heard) Kamek demoted them to KP duty and Junior hasn't seen them since; his paper version has been gone for a while; he wasn't allowed on a lot of kidnapping missions. If he had his paintbrush, he could at least flick it a few times and see what happens—but he had lost it when Dad went to that weird island a while back, and Morton had yet to pull it out again for no reason.

Junior stared up at the ceiling. He was too bored to even think of anything to do.

He heard the sound of a Clown Car and Iggy's signature laugh. He looked out the window to see the Koopaling riding around while Wendy was trying to get him to come down by throwing bracelets at him. Junior watched for a little bit before they lapsed into a throw-dodge-laugh-threat routine and got bored again.

Junior sat back down again. Would he be able to take his own Clown Car and terrorize some Toads? That was always fun. But Kamek tells him not to get too close to Peach's Castle, so flying into Toad Town screaming "I am Bowser! FEAR ME!" won't work if he gets stomped by Mario. Or got caught by any 'responsible' (adult or almost-adult) Minion and had to say "please" every time he wanted something (Kamek came up with the worst punishments).

He stood up and went back to the window. Wendy and Iggy were still yelling—or laughing, in Iggy's case—at each other.

"Hey guys!" Junior called.

Iggy looked at him, and Wendy threw a bracelet at him one more time before doing the same.

"What's up, squirt?" Iggy asked.

"Are you guys going to Peach's Castle today?" Junior said, trying to focus his attention on both of them but not doing well at it.

"That was what Lord Bowser told us," Wendy replied. "We're planning to head out in a few hours, but some of us"—she glared at Iggy, but either he didn't notice or he didn't care—"thought that it would be fun to fool around first, which I was trying to fix." She looked back at Junior and adjusted her bow for a moment. "Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to know if I would have the castle to myself," Junior said. Wendy nodded while Iggy started to descend. "Is Kamek going too?"

"Probably," Iggy said. "Otherwise we might not get home!" This was followed by a small bout of laughter followed by Iggy muttering "ow" as Wendy's bracelet hit him.

"Roy was making sure the airships worked if you wanna hit him a few times." Junior told Wendy, looking in her direction. "I think Ludwig's with him, though."

"I'll keep that in mind," Wendy sighed. She turned back to Iggy, who was hovering a little bit above ground in his Clown Car. "Come on. We need to continue getting ready."

Iggy laughed as a reply, and Wendy led him back into the castle, where they faded out of Junior's view.

Junior turned to leave the room. His afternoon plans, at least, were sealed—he'd go out on his Clown Car and find someone who'd be willing to entertain him for a while.


	2. Setting Out

Junior watched Dad, the Koopalings, and Kamek go. Before they left, Ludwig gave him an almost playfully mocking "Don't burn the castle down," which Kamek contributed to by saying "Just because we're surrounded by lava doesn't mean everything in the castle in fireproof." Dad promised to come back with something more than a few bruises, but saying that they rarely succeeded in kidnapping Peach, Junior doubted it. Roy gave an estimate on how long they'd be gone (roughly five hours, if everything goes well), and then they headed out in one of the airships.

He waited a few minutes for them to disappear over the landscape, and then he went to get his Clown Car. Just to be safe, he grabbed whatever Mechakoopas came his way and made them smaller—there was a little button near the bottom of their head that folded them into little cubes that turned back into normal Mechakoopas when they were placed on the ground—so he could take a lot if he needed to. Junior personally liked the feel of commanding a mini army of a couple dozen mechanical soldiers.

When he got to where they put the Clown Cars, Junior's was easy to spot; it wasn't the smallest, but it wasn't exactly middle-sized either. It had a face on it, unlike most of the others—Dad's Clown Car, while he barely used it anymore, had a face on it too. Junior's Clown Car was also the only one with the retractable boxing gloves (the other Koopalings had been given the option to have them as well, but they declined since they relied on their magic, fire, and shells most of the time). And it had it's own little section the Koopalings normally referred to as 'The Junior Corner' because it mostly contained his vehicles—like that mech that he used to fight Mario in space one time, and his own personal airship.

Junior got into his Clown Car, stashed the Mechakoopas under the dashboard, and started pressing buttons. Another thing that distinguished his Clown Car from the rest is that the buttons were differently colored—on the Koopalings' Clown Cars, they were all gray, but on Bowser Jr.'s they varied from deep red to pitch black, mostly so then he new which ones to press when (he got them mixed up a lot when he was younger, so they made it so then it was easier to remember without obviously labeling them).

As he flew out of the castle, he passed a single Minion—the Goomba looked like he was on his way to Junior's room.

"Hey!" Junior said.

The Goomba looked up at him like he was in trouble, but quickly calmed down. "Yes, Lord Junior?"

"If Dad and the others come back before I do, tell them I'll be back by tomorrow, and if I'm not, don't send anyone because I'm bringing Mechakoopas with me." He tried to make as much sense as possible, just in case—the two Goombas he knew personally weren't dumb, but who's to say that this Goomba wasn't?

"Yes, Lord Junior," The Goomba said. He bowed his head—or maybe he just lost his balance, who knows—and ran off.

Junior flew out of the castle, taking a few moments to figure out which way was Peach's Castle, then went the other way.

He tried to head towards the forest, but he could never memorize the Mushroom Kingdom's map so it was a bit hard. However, he did manage to find some forest-like area—or at least, it had lots of trees and was significantly cooler than his home.

Junior pressed the button that formed a dome-like shield over the top of the Clown Car so he didn't get whacked by twigs. He wandered around aimlessly for a little bit before he heard shuffling and shifting, like someone rummaging through a bag. Junior stopped and hovered silently to make sure it wasn't his Clown Car, then continued to follow the sound.

It led him to a small clearing in the forested area, which held a little tent. Junior found the source of the noise leaning on one of the trees; a Koopa Troopa no bigger than he was, digging through a light green backpack. Eventually he pulled out a little granola bar with chocolate bits in it—according to the wrapper—and opened it. But the Koopa noticed Junior before he could start eating it.


	3. A Young Koopa Named Trooper

(A/N: I mention my headcanon age for Bowser Jr. in this chapter, but keep in mind it's just a headcanon so it could be several years off.)

The Koopa looked like any other Koopa Bowser Jr. had seen—green shell, yellow skin, black eyes—except for a few features; he had a small blue plastic bracelet on one arm, and wore a red beanie. He definitely didn't live at the castle—didn't Larry say once that there were a few towns full of Minions outside of Dad's castle?

Junior took down the protective shield, but didn't get out of his Clown Car. "Hey," he said, "Why are you out here? It's sorta far from the castle. Or any other place to live, for that matter."

"I live here," the Koopa replied. He waved a hand over the clearing. "I have a life's supply of granola bars, a tent, and plenty of firewood. I don't need to go back to town, and I don't want to go back to town."

"I'm not saying you have to," Junior said. He remembered how Kamek always told him to "be nice to the Minions because they'll be his one day." He might not always follow that rule, but he tried to when he remembered. "Why are you out here in the forest instead of, I don't know, playing tons of games with your friends?"

"I don't have friends," the Koopa replied. He took a bite out of his granola bar slowly, as if Junior was going to try to take it from him. "And besides, I like it out here. Everyone back at home left, and they haven't been back in a while, so I figured I was alone and I left."

"Why did they leave?"

"I don't know. They just did. My parents left first, a few years ago, then my babysitter went out of town saying she'd be back in a few days, and it's been months and she hasn't come back yet."

Sure, sometimes Dad or the Koopalings left for a few weeks—usually it was a part of a kidnapping mission and other times it was just because they wanted a break—but they always came back, and Junior knew they always would come back because they've already been burned, beaten, and bruised so much they seemed invincible and impossible to KO. He couldn't really imagine if they didn't come back—if they never did, he probably wouldn't be able to believe it and spend all of his time waiting for their return.

"I can't imagine what that would feel like," Junior said honestly. The Koopa wasn't much older than he was, probably around the same age—that alone made him a bit more compelled to be nice to him, because he didn't know a lot of age-mates.

"Thanks for being nice to me," the Koopa said. He took another bite out of his granola bar and held out his free hand. "I'm Trooper. Don't ask for my last name because I don't know it. Used to live in the town outside of this small forest but I don't anymore." He smiled warmly as he spoke.

Junior hopped out of his Clown Car and shook Trooper's hand. "I'm Bowser Jr., Junior for short. King Bowser's son and prince of everything he's the king of. Most Minions call me 'Lord Junior.' Live in Bowser's Castle that's somewhere behind me."

"You're Bowser Jr.?" Trooper asked, standing up and putting his free hand at his side. "Huh. Not sure why, but…I sorta thought you'd be taller."

"So you're calling me short?" Junior said, crossing his arms.

"No, I'm just saying you're not as tall as I thought you were." Trooper maintained, taking another bite out of his granola bar. "How old are you?"

"Almost eleven," Junior replied. "How about you?"

"Ten months away from being twelve." Trooper said, basically saying a fancier version of "My eleventh birthday was two months ago." So they weren't that far apart. That was good to know.

Junior stood there for a few moments. "Do you have any drumsticks? I just realized I didn't eat lunch."

Trooper laughed for a moment. "No, but I do have…" he trailed off as he bent down to rummage through his backpack, occasionally taking a bite out of his granola bar. He stood straight up again, producing a granola bar in a milky brown wrapper. "Ta da! An all-chocolate granola bar, because any Koopa who hates junk food is not a Koopa at all."

"Thanks!" Junior said, grabbing it. It took him a little bit to get it open, but once he did he sat down near a tree and started eating.


	4. Talking About Family

Junior and Trooper ended up talking for a while, eventually falling into a conversation about Mario.

"While I just do it, like, three times a week, Dad declares his hatred for Mario every six hours," Junior was saying.

"Really?" Trooper asked, sounding slightly disbelieving. "That's four times a day!"

"I'm not kidding," Junior replied. "Exactly every six hours, Dad always says something along the lines of 'I hate Mario.' He even does it in his sleep! There was one time when me and Lemmy stayed up all night and timed him. It was the best."

Trooper laughed a bit. "I bet it's nice to have a lot of family, huh?"

"The Koopalings aren't family," Junior said. He realized that sounded a bit harsh, so he rushed to add, "Well, not technically. If I were to give them all labels as family members, I'd have to say that the Koopalings are like cousins—you see them enough that you know they exist, and they sorta care, but it's not in the way I'd imagine siblings caring, you know? It's more out of obligation and stuff. And then Kamek is like that really old grandpa who's been around for ages and ruins all the fun."

Trooper laughed again, but this time it took several moments before he calmed down. "Either way, it seems like you have a lot of fun with them." He said once his laughter stopped.

"Yeah, I guess," Junior replied. It was true that he had a lot of good memories with the Koopalings—teasing Morton on how he couldn't decide if he wanted to talk right or not, watching Wendy beat up Roy because he somehow 'misplaced' an entire airship, playing pranks on the others with Lemmy—before and after he stopped those fitness freaks. But there were still times when they seemed to hate him. Morton's always willing to stand up for him, but the others went against him sometimes. And Kamek was more like an annoying babysitter that scolded Junior a lot (only about half the time does he actually deserve it). But sometimes they felt more like obligatory guardians than friends (although Kamek sort of was an obligatory guardian, in a way).

"It's getting late," Trooper noted. Junior brought himself out of his thoughts and looked up at the sky. The fellow Koopa was right; it was getting close to dusk.

"I have to go." Junior said, standing up. "I told Dad"—well, he told a Goomba to tell Dad—"that I'd be back by tomorrow, but Kamek would lecture me to death if I'm not back by nightfall."

"Will you come back tomorrow?" Trooper asked.

"Definitely," Junior replied. Trooper smiled at him. "Thanks for the granola bar! I'll try to bring something back for you tomorrow." He got into his Clown Car, then reached down to grab two Mechakoopas. "Oh, and you can have these." Junior put them in his hand and then tossed them into the ground. They unfolded back into their functional shape. "I have tons. Good playmates if they don't break. If they do, I know a quick way on how to fix them—just tap their shells a couple of times and they should work again."

"Thanks," Trooper said. The Mechakoopas danced around him, jumping occasionally. "They won't—uh—attack me or anything, will they?"

"They won't," Junior confirmed. Trooper's smile returned, and Junior bid goodbye-for-now.

…

Bowser Jr. wasn't exactly surprised when he saw Kamek waiting for him at the castle.

"You left the castle," the Magikoopa said.

"So?" Junior asked as he hopped out of his Clown Car and started walking towards his room.

"You shouldn't have left the castle. With half of the supply of Mechakoopas, no less."

"If you want the Mechakoopas, they're in my Clown Car."

"Why did you take the Mechakoopas?"

"In case I got in trouble, duh. My Clown Car's awesome, but I can't hide in it forever."

"If you got in trouble, then you could've just came back to the castle."

"But then they could follow me and know where the castle is."

"Everyone who's a threat already knows where the castle is. Anyone who doesn't can easily be stopped by the defenses outside of the castle."

"Fine."

"Where did you go? You were gone longer than we were."

"I went to the forest."

"Which forest?"

"The one that's not in the direction of the Peach's Castle."

"What—you know what, I don't care that much. Just tell an adult before you go anywhere next time. I'm going to bed. Have a good evening, Lord Junior."

And with that, Junior won the argument and Kamek left the prince. Junior debated calling after him to ask when dinner would be ready, but he figured someone would call him to eat eventually.


	5. No Terrorizing Toads Today? Bummer

The next day, Junior did as Kamek had requested and told the first Koopaling he saw—it ended up being Larry—that he was going back to the forest. Larry didn't protest but promised to let everyone else know so Junior wouldn't get lectured later, and he thanked him for it.

The Mechakoopas were still in Junior's Clown Car, but since he more-or-less knew where he was going and what to expect, he tossed all of them but ten out. He watched them run around a little bit before heading out.

It wasn't too hard for him to find Trooper again; all he had to do was follow the trail of broken twigs and tattered foliage from the castle.

Trooper was sitting underneath the tent with the two Mechakoopas cowering behind him. They started hopping when they noticed Junior, which made Trooper look up from what he was doing—it looked like a flute or something—and smiled.

"You came back!" He said, sounding excited.

"Yeah? I said I would," Junior replied. He hopped out of his Clown Car and walked over to the tent. "Did you not believe me?"

"Not really," Trooper admitted. "I have some sort of trust issue? Like, if someone says or promises they'll do something, I don't really believe them. The good side to that, though, is that I'm normally surprised when they do it!" He paused, then put his flute-or-whatever back in his backpack. "Did you bring something today?"

"Shoot," Junior muttered. "I forgot. Sorry."

"It's alright. Happens to the best of us," Trooper replied. "Anyway, what do you want to do today? We can go over to the lake; we might find some Cheep Cheeps if we're lucky. Oh! And there's a village of Toads somewhere around here."

This piqued Junior's interest. "Really? Even though we're close to the castle?"

"Everyone in town said to avoid it because 'Toads mean Mario,'" Trooper said. "But Mario only comes by here when he's trying to recapture Peach. I don't even think he knows there's a town of Toads out here. So we should be safe. If not, you can probably get away from a plumber, right?"

"Probably," Junior replied. While he was pretty sure his Clown Car could outrun Mario if neither of them had the intention of fighting each other, he had to admit that the thought of getting kidnapped by Mario seemed…amusing, if that word fit. It would definitely by different than Dad kidnapping Peach. "But is there anything else? If not, we can go terrorize some Toads."

Trooper nodded, then began to list stuff they could do. "We could also explore a little outside the forest—I haven't gone much farther than this clearing, honestly. We could also go back to town, but only for lunch—if you gave any coins."

"Dad practically banned coins," Junior said. "We don't really need them anyway, but he throws every coin he sees into the lava."

"Nice to know," Trooper replied. "Anyway. We could also just sit here and talk like we did yesterday."

Junior considered the options. Going to the Toad town would be the fun option…but literally every other option was safer. Just because Mario was there didn't mean that no one else would. Luigi could be there—although Junior knew he could fight Mario's brother if he was alone, if Luigi didn't run away first. Junior couldn't really think of any other enemies that could fight back. And what harm would a few Toads be able to do? At worst they could probably make you deaf for five seconds because of how loud they scream.

He sighed. "I guess we could just talk."

"No Toad terrorizing?" Trooper asked.

"Dad wouldn't like it if I didn't at least invite him," Junior replied. It was true; Dad liked watching the Toads run around just as much as Junior did.

"Then why don't you invite him?" Trooper said.

"He's probably going to kidnap Peach again, if he hasn't already," Junior explained. "He normally goes every day unless we have something else planned or he actually succeeds, Peach gets taken back by Mario, then has to rest for a week."

"Sounds rough," Trooper replied.

"I'm used to it, honestly," Junior said.

Trooper nodded, and then they fell into idle conversation.


	6. Sleepover Invite

A few days of visiting Trooper and Junior was surprised that no one really questioned him. Sure, they didn't have a right to—he was the prince, after all—but it was honestly a little unsettling that Kamek didn't protest or chastise him for staying out so late, and Dad probably didn't even know, and the Koopalings just shrugged it off. (The latter probably just assumed he'd found some odd obsession like how Dad went out every day to try to kidnap Peach.)

Junior had been coming at relatively the same time, so of course when he didn't come until lunch, Trooper looked a bit betrayed. Until he saw Junior, that is.

"Sorry I'm late," Junior said. He hopped out of his Clown Car and the Mechakoopas came to greet him. "I had to do chores."

"You do chores?" Trooper asked, seeming to forget his temporary sadness and instead seeming genuinely curious.

"Sometimes I have to do, like, little stuff," Junior replied. "Like stand in front of the freezer door because it only opens to me or Dad so someone can get ice or something. Or set something on fire for someone. Usually only when Dad can't do it himself, which is rare because he's awesome."

"I totally agree with that statement," Trooper said. "King Bowser—or Lord Bowser, or Master Bowser, or whatever everyone's calling him now—is the best. Second only to his son." He gave a warm smile, and Junior returned it.

"Who knows, maybe awesomeness runs in the family." Junior mused, reaching down to pet a Mechakoopa. "Anyway, did you have anything planned for today?"

"Nope," Trooper replied. "I was thinking of just sitting around for a while, eating, sitting around some more, and then going to bed. I just had lunch—and I would offer you a granola bar, but I ran out of all chocolate ones."

"That's fine," Junior said. "Anyway, I asked because I wanted to know if you'd like to come over to the castle."

Trooper's eyes looked like they would turn into actual stars for a second. "Really? Am I—is that really allowed?"

"If it isn't, no one's told me," Junior said. "It'll be fun! The Koopalings aren't going out until tomorrow, and Kamek went with Dad. It'll just be the"—it took him a few moments to figure out the exact number—"nine of us. Morton and Lemmy are the best to be around—Morton's my closest friend, and Lemmy does lots of cool stuff. Wendy and Roy are good too—if they don't just beat each other up, since from how I see it, Roy is more or less Wendy's punching bag. Ludwig, Larry, and Iggy are OK but they won't do anything against us playing around—they might tell Kamek or Dad later, but they'll probably be too tired to do anything about it."

"So…" Trooper said slowly. "You're inviting me for a sleepover? At Bowser Castle? And letting me meet the Koopalings? And basically do every single thing that every single kid in my town wished they could do?"

"Pretty much."

Trooper's only reply was a wildly happy grin that made it look like he was trying not to shriek out of pure delight.

"Do you want to pack up first, or—" Junior began.

"Oh! Let me get my tent taken down so I don't lose it or something. And get my backpack. And the Mechakoopas." Trooper said, interrupting him.

"I'll get the Clown Car ready," Junior said.

Trooper looked over at the Clown Car. "Are you sure that can fit both of us?"

"I've driven in it with Morton and we both fit comfortably. You're smaller so we'll fit even better."

"Okay. Great. Let me get my stuff."

Junior got back in the Clown Car and pressed a few buttons so that it would bring them back to the castle once Trooper got in, then watched his friend as he took down his tent.

"Do you need any help?" Junior called.

"No. I'm good." Trooper called back. The tent abruptly fell on him, and he crawled out from underneath it. "See? Totally got it to do that on purpose."

"The way you're choosing to phrase your sentence isn't helping your case any."

"Maybe that's the point."

"…what."

"Oh, nevermind! Just make sure everything's ready. I'm almost done."

"Alright then…"


	7. Stories and Explanations — Kinda

The two boys started making their way back to the castle.

"Is there anything I should expect when I meet the Koopalings?" Trooper asked. He seemed nervous, which was a little annoying since there wasn't anything to be nervous about.

"I already told you all you need to know," Junior replied.

"Have any stories about them that I can use to figure out how'd the act?" Trooper tried.

"Sure. This isn't completely relevant, but there was this one time where someone called Wendy my 'true love,'" Junior said.

Trooper made a weird gagging noise. "Really?"

"Yeah. For starters, she's at least five years older than me. Second, that's just gross. What makes it worse is that there's at least one person out there who can't unsee it or can't un-want it now," Junior said. "Okay, we need to talk about something else before I get sick just thinking about it."

"Do you have any non-disturbing stories?" Trooper asked.

"Lots of them," Junior said. "Morton gave me a really charred drumstick one time. I didn't eat it until I got hungry a while later. And we also saved everyone from fitness freaks a while back! That was epic. It was pretty great to waste time with them when Dad went to that island; Kamek left with him, so we were free to do anything we wanted. I ended up bowling with the Minions—I used Goombas as the pins and Bob-ombs as the balls, then lit them up when I was done."

"Does that hurt the Bob-ombs? Blowing them up?"

"Why would it? That's literally their life's purpose. Plus, it seems like they get reborn from whatever remains they leave behind; either that or they're really easy to build, because whenever I blow up one of them, two more come up to take it's place. It's nuts."

"What about the Goombas?"

"They don't mind. They're probably all used to it—Dad brings tons of Minions with him when he goes on kidnapping missions, especially when he knows he'll succeed, and they're mostly Goombas or Koopas. All Goombas are literally trained to be stomped, follow orders, stuff like that."

They fell into silence for a little bit, then Trooper spoke up again.

"Hey, why do Bob-ombs and Boos have their own king?" Trooper asked.

"That has nothing to do with the Koopalings," Junior pointed out.

"I know. But I'm curious. Why just those two? Do they still follow your dad? Or are they completely independent? And why is King-slash-Lord-slash-Master Bowser called the Koopa King sometimes? Wouldn't that mean he's just the king of Koopas and not, say, Goombas and Bullet Bills and Monty Moles?" Trooper said.

"Uhhh," Junior said. He had to think about it for a little bit. "Kamek told me that the Boos had a separate king because none of the Boos really live at the castle—they like to haunt mansions and stuff. King Boo and King Bob-omb still have to obey whatever Dad says, but they're allowed to decline if it better fits their subject's interests. Like King Boo could decline if Dad wanted him to put Boos in a bright, sunny forest or in the desert because Boos work best in dark places. Or King Bob-omb could decline if Dad wanted Bob-ombs at the castle where there's lava everywhere. But King Bob-omb already lives at the castle, so I'm not really sure why he would decline—I don't really know why he exists, honestly. And I guess Dad's called the Koopa King because it sounds nice and, depending on your view, he is technically a Koopa? It's not necessarily what he's the king of. Otherwise there wouldn't be any reason for him to have tons of Minions, even if a good third of the army are a type of Koopa."

"Army?" Trooper echoed.

"It gets tiring to say 'Minions' all the time," Junior explained. "And 'army' sounds way more awesome."

"That sounds like a logical reason," Trooper said. He looked out ahead of them. "Wow. It's getting really hot all of a sudden."

"If you're hot now, wait until you actually get inside the castle!" Junior replied. "It's, like, a bajillion degrees in there. You'll get used to it, though. We're almost there, so try to get used to it before it gets too hot, okay?"

Trooper nodded.

(A/N: I will apologize now if there's more than two 'species kings' besides King Boo and King Bob-omb. There's also a lot of references to Bowser Jr.'s Journey—can you tell it's one of my favorite games?)


	8. Talking About The Minions—As Per Usual

Junior brought the Clown Car into the castle and Trooper hopped out.

"You might want to take off your beanie," Junior suggested. "Dad has a thing against red hats, I guess. It's a Mario-related thing."

Trooper nodded, took his red beanie off, and stuffed it in his backpack.

Junior finished up making sure the Clown Car was secure (even though there wasn't much reason for it not to be), then walked over to Trooper. "The Koopalings are probably somewhere in the castle. I can ask a Goomba or someone to bring them to my room, then we can hang out there until they come."

"Sounds like a plan," Trooper said.

The two walked through the halls for a while. Dad must've brought a lot of Minions with him—there wasn't as much as there normally was. Or maybe they were just recovering from getting stomped or fixing up the castle.

Eventually they passed a capable-looking Minion—this one happened to be a Shy Guy.

"Hey," Junior said.

The Shy Guy looked up at him.

"If you see any of the Koopalings, tell them to come to my room," Junior continued. "It's not urgent, so if you can't find them, don't worry about it."

The Shy Guy nodded and walked off.

"Not very talkative." Trooper observed as they continued walking.

"Not all of the Minions are," Junior explained. "But I know two Shy Guys personally that talked better than Morton does sometimes, so I don't really think it has anything to do with Shy Guys but more on the Minion themselves."

"Which two Shy Guys?" Trooper asked.

"Captain Shy Guy and Sergeant Guy," Junior replied. "I haven't seen either of them in a while. I don't know what happened to Captain Shy Guy, but Sergeant Guy—along with Private Goomp and Corporal Paraplonk—got demoted to KP duty and I haven't seen them since."

"How much Minions do you know personally? Besides the Koopalings and Kamek?" Trooper said.

"Uh…the four original Captains—Captain Goomba, Captain Shy Guy, Captain Boo, and Captain Koopa Troopa—and the elite trio—Private Goomp, Corporal Paraplonk, and Sergeant Guy." Junior said, making sure that was all of them. "The original Captains saved my shell once, and they helped Dad, too. The elite trio were closer to the side of treason—they got beaten by Mario two or three times, and they sided with this dude named Fawful twice. Cowards. I guess Kamek decided they were too stupid for KP duty and fired them. I wish I knew what happened to the Captains, though; Captain Goomba was my fighting buddy for a while."

"I would not want to be your fighting buddy," Trooper said. "For one, I'm a lousy fighter. Second, you're probably really hard to beat."

This pleased Junior's pride a little. "It's true. I never lost a fight against him!"

"What about anyone else?" Trooper asked.

The small boost in pride shattered for a little bit until he remembered what Kamek always told him—not to get too prideful or discouraged. Sometimes the Magikoopa gave advice that stuck to the prince. "Honestly, I lost a lot. Especially when no one liked me, so they tried harder to beat me. I still lose, sometimes. Not a lot, though—not unless I'm up against Mario."

"That was not the answer I was expecting," Trooper admitted. "A lot of people back at town said that you and your dad almost never admitted defeat—which was why your dad keeps on trying to kidnap princesses. No offense."

"None taken," Junior replied. "I used to hear that a lot. The Koopalings—Roy especially—used to get really annoyed with how I treated them. I guess I was being selfish. Kamek says I still am, sometimes. But he says he can 'see my improvement' since then. Heck, some of the Minions actually say I'm better behaved than Dad."

"I believe it," Trooper said.

They continued on in more-or-less silence with a few comments to what little décor could be found in the castle ("Is that lava leak intentional?" "I don't think so." "Maybe someone should fix that." "Eh, most of the people living here have been thrown into lava at least once. They can handle it."), until they reached Junior's room.

It was a bit chaotic inside—he never really cleaned it, nor did he have to—but there was enough room for them to pull out one of Junior's gaming systems to play some video games while they waited for the Koopalings.


	9. The Koopalings

(A/N: I've read all of the Koopalings pages on the wiki, but there might still be some out-of-character moments.)

The Koopalings started coming to Junior's room after about an hour of easy fighting gameplay. They were in the middle of a conversation, with Larry's voice being the closest.

"Can we discuss Fawful's name, though?" He asked.

The reply sounded like Ludwig: "You do know that name's even more banned than Mario, right?"

"I know," Larry said. "But think about it! It's like 'fu—" he opened the door, realized Junior and Trooper were sitting right there (with both of them looking at the door with the game paused), then stopped mid-sentence to chuckle nervously for a second. "'Awful.'"

"I've heard people curse before," Junior pointed out. "I'm pretty sure that's where you were going with that. Kamek does it all the time."

"And he then proceeds to tell you not to repeat it until you're eighteen." Wendy—who was a little bit behind Larry and Ludwig—said. The Koopalings went into the room in pairs, with Morton being the last one in. They siblings immediately sat down wherever they pleased, with Ludwig being the only one who was still standing up. Junior didn't really mind—he had invited them there, after all.

Then came the awkward silence that plagued introductions when no one in the room knew what to say (in their defense, it didn't happen often because everyone at the castle—and probably Trooper's town, too—knew each other and there weren't a lot of notable new recruits).

Trooper sat down the controller, picked up his backpack, and handed out granola bars to all of the Koopalings. "These have chocolate chips in them, but I don't have any more all-chocolate ones." Lemmy, Larry, Iggy, and Morton accepted them eagerly; Ludwig, Roy, and Wendy were a bit hesitant but eventually grabbed it after Trooper waved it in their faces.

"Oooo, peace offering." Lemmy muttered, taking a bite. "And a yummy one!" He looked over at Trooper, who had returned to Bowser Jr. after distributing the granola bars. "To whom do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm Trooper. I used to live in a town not that far from here until family stuff happened, then I moved into the forest." Junior couldn't tell if Trooper was nervous around people older than him, or if it was just the typical 'omg the Koopalings are right there what do I do aaaaaaaaaaaah' thing that some of the lower Minions did. Maybe a little bit of both.

"What kind of family stuff?" Morton asked. (Junior was a bit glad that he was talking normally today—however selfish the thought may be.)

"My parents left when I was little—when I was five—and my babysitter—she lived at my house, sort of like a big sister that's not related to you in any way—left a few months ago when I was ten," Trooper said. "I haven't heard anything about my babysitter—I left before I could—but she and plenty of other adults decided that my parents died, so…that happened. I moved out to the forest near town because I'm pretty confident they thought it was my fault."

That was a more detailed description than what Junior had gotten. It made sense, though—even Lemmy was considered more mature than him on most occasions. Trying to get sentimental with Junior was just about as hard as trying to stop a Chain Chomp from destroying everything. The Koopalings were a bit easier to sway, thus were normally the go-to choice when you needed someone to sympathize with.

However, the Koopalings nor Junior made any move to comfort Trooper (even though he didn't look sad, just a bit resigned). None of them were really good with acts of assurance and comfort anyway. Sure, Junior was favored by his father and was shone a bit more affection than anyone else, but it wasn't like he was ever hugged or anything. At most, all he'd ever receive was a pat on the back and a drumstick. The Koopalings were typically given praise or gratitude verbally rather than through gestures, but it was still rare to see them return anything close to that when they were doing the same to others.

Roy opened his mouth, probably to break the silence, but Wendy glared at him and he closed it again. Lemmy was looking sadly at the granola bar wrapper in his hand—although he might just want another one. Ludwig looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't figure out what he wanted to say. Iggy was strangely silent—usually by now he would've laughed or spoken or something. Larry and Morton just looked distant beyond anything else.

Junior wasn't sure if it was a few minutes or a few hours, but at some point, Kamek walked up to the doorway (none of the Koopalings had closed it, apparently).

"Lord Bowser would like to see the Koopalings," the Magikoopa said. "Excluding the young master."

Ludwig was the first to react. "I assume the mission didn't go well?" He asked.

"Not in the slightest," Kamek replied. "We got halfway to Peach's Castle, then spent the rest of the day fixing the airship. It barely got us home. His Unsuccessfulness wants to actually succeed tomorrow, so he wants the seven of you to go to what's supposed to be the war-council room."

Junior knew by wandering around the castle that the war-council room consisted of a less grand version of the throne in the throne room and nine chairs—enough for the Koopalings, Kamek, and occasionally Junior himself—placed around a round table that had board game pieces on it. Literal board game pieces, which were put in approximate locations of important-for-kidnapping-missions Mushroom Kingdom landmarks, such as Peach's Castle or all the towns (although Junior knew the latter half because Kamek told him). The room itself was pretty boring, and was originally a spare room until Dad decided he needed a table to plan out kidnapping missions on.

The Koopalings stood up, and left the room—Morton and Lemmy waved goodbye to Junior and Trooper. Kamek stood at the door for a few moments, squinting at Trooper, and said "I'll be back later to discuss in further detail why you've been leaving every day for the past several days. Do not expect me to be patient." And with that, he left.

(A/N: WOW this chapter is long—for my usual story chapter lengths, anyway. Sorry about that. And no, I'm not trying to demonize Kamek—but think about it. You would get annoyed too if you had to raise one Bowser and babysit the next, right? Especially if the second is just a mini version of the first.)


	10. Kamek's Questions

Bowser Jr. wasn't really fazed by Kamek's warning—at least it told him to play a game that he could save whenever—but Trooper seemed a bit concerned.

"Are you getting in trouble because of me?" Trooper asked.

"Nope," Junior replied. "If anything I'm getting in trouble for being bored—which isn't my fault anyway. He probably just wants to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. If he tells Dad, he'd just call me in the throne room, say 'Son, try not to do that again' and let me go back to doing whatever."

Trooper didn't look very convinced but nodded anyway.

"Do you want do continue playing games?" Junior asked. "I have lots of E games, a few T games, and a single M game that Dad wrapped up for a birthday present that's sitting under my bed until I'm older."

"Do you have any more fighting games? Or one with really awesome plot lines?" Trooper said.

Junior looked over at the pile of video games by the TV. "Uhhh. I think I have an RPG about a Goomba who has this Boo friend that acts more like a Peepa? It has a lot of puzzles in it so I could never get very far without help. Larry helped me up until the final boss, where you have to solve a quiz about the boss. I've tried a couple times but it brings up questions I can't answer, and all Koopaling or Minion help I find decides to leave around the time the quiz starts."

"I could try to solve the puzzles," Trooper said. "Start it up and I'll see what I can do."

Junior nodded and started switching games. "Do you want to start at the beginning?"

"Yeah," Trooper replied.

…

A Minion brought them dinner (he explained that the Koopalings, Kamek, and Dad were eating in the war-council room) at around the normal time. Since there were two plates—one of which had only drumsticks, and the other of which was what the Minions normally ate—Junior assumed someone told whoever cooked the food of Trooper's stay (either that or they assumed he was a Minion who was looking over Junior that day).

Kamek came in at around ten at night, with Junior and Trooper still playing games while the latter slowly but surely started dozing off on the couch.

Junior was heading towards a save spot when Kamek entered.

"Let me save," Junior said. Kamek didn't protest. Junior saved the game and turned it off, and walked over to Kamek without disturbing Trooper. "How do you want to quiz me tonight?"

"Just explain who the Koopa Troopa is, why you keep on going out, and why he's at the castle when he's too young to be any of the qualified Minions," Kamek said. "I'm sure we're both tired, and the faster we get this done, the faster we can sleep."

"The Koopa is Trooper," Junior explained. "He's a friend. He used to live in a town outside the castle, but moved into the forest when his family disappeared. I kept on leaving to visit him. And I gave him two Mechakoopas. He's at the castle because I invited him."

"Thank you for the straight answer," Kamek said. Junior knew he was sincere—Kamek hated answers that didn't answer anything (especially if it was coming from a pink-capped Toad with braids that somehow made a Papercraft in Bowser Castle). "And I'm sure your father would be glad to hear your reasons."

"Dad was concerned?" Junior asked. He didn't think Dad knew—lots of times, Dad didn't know.

"To an extent, yes." Kamek replied simply. "He doesn't want you to get hurt. Even if he's oblivious to when you do get hurt."

It was nice to know Dad cared—a little bit, anyway. "So…am I off the hook now?"

Kamek sighed. "How long will Trooper be here?"

"I'll take him back to the forest in the morning," Junior promised. "But then I'll be visiting him daily again."

"You can do so after your father agrees," Kamek said. "Until then, you can stay at the castle once you bring him to his home."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine," Junior said. He would have to tell Trooper about it—he felt bad for his friend.

Kamek turned to leave, but turned back to Junior again. "Please behave yourself tomorrow. Everyone—the Koopalings, Lord Bowser, and me—will be going out to try to kidnap Peach. We'll also be bringing a good chunk of the Minions with us. We're planning to leave at dawn, so we should be gone before you wake up. Once you're done bringing Trooper back to his home, come straight back here to prepare for Peach in case we actually succeed, and prepare to be your best self for if we don't succeed so we can rest."

Junior nodded. He wanted to ask if he could come too, but he definitely wasn't the best morning person.

"Goodnight," Kamek said. He turned back towards the door and walked off.

Junior went towards his bed, making sure Trooper looked comfortable, and laid down. He closed his eyes and slept.


	11. Welp There Goes Junior's Temper—

(A/N: Okay bear with me with the chapter names, guys. The title I had for it on the Word document was too long.)

Junior woke up late, having tried to keep on going back to sleep before Trooper nudged him awake.

"I don't want to get up yet," Junior muttered.

"I half-heard your conversation with Kamek last night, and I'm ready to go."

That got Junior up. "I told you Kamek was the grandfather who ruined everything," he said. "Did you hear the part about me being grounded?"

"Yup. That sucks. But as long as you promise to eventually come back, I'm good."

"Even if it takes a while, I'll visit again," Junior promised. "It probably won't take too long. Dad makes decisions quickly. I'd guess about a month at most."

Trooper looked pleased to hear this. He walked back over to the couch to pick up his backpack. "So…do you think the Koopalings liked me?"

"Lemmy did," Junior said, hopping out of his bed. He started leading his friend to the Clown Car. "The others at least understood you. I could ask around, see how much they like you based on first impressions, then report back to you when I can visit."

"You'd do that for me?" Trooper asked.

"I try to be a good friend," Junior replied. "It's the least I can do."

Trooper beamed, and they stayed silent until they got to the Clown Car. The castle felt deserted. Junior remembered what Kamek said and started trying to make a mental list of what he needed to do. He wouldn't even have anyone to help him.

The two friends got into the Clown Car and Junior started it up. The ride was mostly silence, with Trooper occasionally pointing Junior in the right direction (literally). It didn't take too long for them to reach the clearing Trooper lived in. It looked bare without the tent there.

Trooper got out of the Clown Car and started unpacking. "You'll be back, right?" He asked.

"I already promised," Junior replied. "And I don't normally break my promises."

Trooper nodded. "See you soon, then?"

"Whenever I can," Junior agreed. He really hoped Dad made a decision tonight—or, better yet, be so defeated that Junior could ask him if he could visit Trooper again and Dad would say yes (even though that was probably more selfish than being glad Morton was talking correctly).

Trooper waved goodbye and started setting up his tent. Junior wanted to stay and help, but he had to get back to the castle. So, he waved goodbye as well and started heading back home.

…

Junior made sure he had everything. He made sure the lava was one-hit-K.O. worthy, that whatever Minions were ready to possibly face Mario or to prepare for Dad's possible defeat, and the cage (Dad preferred to call it the 'Princess Holding Device' because it sounded slightly less harsh) for Peach. Then he went to the throne room and sat by the throne.

Eventually he heard the Koopalings from outside the castle, so he got up to look. Iggy was flying in his Clown Car while the others were walking, but all seven were having a vivid conversation—Junior couldn't hear more than a few words, though. They seemed happy. That probably meant that they succeeded, but he couldn't see Kamek or Dad.

Junior decided to walk down to the entrance of the castle instead of shouting down to them. They quieted down when they opened the doors, but they were still talking.

"Case in point, Toads are weird!" Roy said. "They have nubby hands and feet and they all wear the same clothes. It's creepy. And weird! It's creepy and weird!"

The other Koopalings' reactions were either agreement—Lemmy, Larry, and Morton—and mixed expressions that Junior couldn't understand—Ludwig, Wendy, and Iggy.

"Guys," Junior said. He wasn't standing that far away from him, but they hadn't noticed him yet. "How'd you guys do? Didn't you take an airship with you?"

"Lord Bowser still has the airship," Wendy said. "Him and Kamek are spreading out the Minions."

"So you guys won?" Junior asked.

"More or less," Larry replied. "We got the princess, at least. Mario's not that far behind, though. Might want to go to your room in case he shows up."

"I can handle Mario!" Junior protested.

"History proves otherwise, squirt," Iggy said.

"Like you guys have done any better," Junior muttered.

"We've been doing this longer than you have," Ludwig pointed out. "Let us handle it."

"It's for the best," Lemmy said.

Morton just nodded. That made Junior even more mad.

"Come on, guys!" Junior said. "I'm already grounded! You don't have to make me room-bound, too!"

"It was just a suggestion." Larry said, putting his hands up. "But we need to get ready." The other Koopalings nodded in agreement, and they left.

Junior stood there for a few minutes until he went to his room. Now he can be bored, lonely, AND stuck in one room. Great.


	12. No One Ever Said Junior Was Obedient

This was frustrating. All his games gave him no interest—in fact, his TV picked an excellent time to stop working, so he couldn't play a majority of his games. Junior wanted to at least walk around, but didn't want to get yelled at. If his Clown Car wasn't so far away, he would just deal with the consequences of bailing later. But he would probably get in more trouble by trying to sneak out as opposed to just shouting his plans for the entire castle to hear.

So, Junior waited for Kamek or Dad or someone to show up and tell him he can go back to being a kid. But that wouldn't happen until tomorrow at the earliest. The rest of his life at the latest.

He walked over to the window. Nothing interesting there. He flopped on his bed. Wasn't bouncy enough. He groaned. Okay, well, now he was thirsty. This was going to take forever, wasn't it? Probably. He couldn't even call over some Minions to play with, because they would be needed for defending the castle.

Sneaking out might be the only way to keep Junior from dying of boredom. Which one would be worse, getting in trouble later or being bored now? It felt like he would get in trouble either way, so…

He checked his door. No one in the hallways. He looked out his window. Everyone was probably near the entrance. Which way was the forest..? He took a few moments to think. It was to his right, wasn't it?

Junior tried to think up a valid reason for him to leave. Was boredom considered a 'valid reason?' No one seemed to want him around the castle. Or at the very least, they didn't need him around the castle. And if he left, spent a few hours with Trooper, then came back before anyone noticed, no one needs to know.

Nodding to himself, he made sure that he was all set to leave. He grabbed a few Mechakoopas—there were two stashed under his bed—and cautiously made his way out of the castle.

…

It was surprisingly easy, considering that everyone was supposed to be on alert for Mario. Then again, they didn't have much reason to question Junior. He still decided to go on foot, though. Better safe than sorry.

Thankfully, Junior didn't have a hard time finding where Trooper was. He entered the clearing, and the Koopa looked up.

"That was quick," Trooper said.

"I got bored," Junior replied. "I'll have to go back in a few hours, but until then we can hang out."

"Sounds fair enough," Trooper said. "What would you like to do?"

"Anything besides sitting around doing nothing." Junior said, smiling a little.

Trooper nodded. "Here's some suggestions…"

(A/N: I'm sorry for the extremely short chapter. I'm also sorry for the long break in posting—even if it was only a week or two. But I would like to say that, as of now, this story will be on an indefinite hiatus and will be considered complete. I tried to end it off as nicely as I can.  
I would like to apologize for not getting everything done. I did plan on making a chapter devoted to Trooper/Koopaling bonding which would have eventually led to everyone allowing Trooper to stay at the castle. However, I lost interest and found it harder to write. There are a few other fanfics I'm working on that I want to finish, so at the very least this fanfic will be worked on and updated significantly less. But don't expect any more updates unless I pick up interest in the story again.  
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the story despite the abrupt ending.)


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